4 diveres went missing - Malpelo, Colombia

[judyo1]

I do not carry a whistle precisely because it is useless. A boat searching for a diver will never hear a whistle or a dive alert unless they are so close they would be obviously seen or they have their engine/s off. Very, very unlikely that any searching boat would even think to turn off their engine every few minutes.

I've been in a situaion where whistle was useful... liveaboard... diving from tenders. Swell got up while we were down for the dive and strong currents... we came up scattered around. Group of 3, we could hear them calling on nautilus radio thingy but couldn't see them (combination of looking into the sun and safety sausage couldn't be seen through the waves). We heard the whistle. I found it amusing that the cheapest piece of equipment was the most useful for finding them.

 

[SCRedWolf]

I found it amusing that the cheapest piece of equipment was the most useful for finding them.

Since they cost next to nothing ($2-7), weigh less than a chicklet (the gum), and readily snap anywhere a caribiner ring fits I prefer to have one. If I never think about using it, well great, things must have gone off well or really, really poorly. I also do a lot of kayaking and keep whistles on our PFDs.

 

[Centrals]

Another problem with Dive Alert: it does not work if the tank is low in pressure. So a plain whistle is probably a better option. Nothing wrong to carry both though.

 

[John Bantin]

People must realise that the noise level on all motor-driven boats makes audible signalling devices for divers virtually useless.

 

[Mike Veitch]

as someone who drove tenders on liveaboards for many years, I can say that dive alerts can be readily heard when the divers are upwind. Not so much when down wind. Modern outboards are certainly not loud so didn't affect my hearing of dive alerts often. Larger diesel powered boats may be a different story

 

[Mike Veitch]

People must realise that the noise level on all motor-driven boats makes audible signalling devices for divers virtually useless.

John, we were trying to lose you on purpose....

 

[CuzzA]

as someone who drove tenders on liveaboards for many years, I can say that dive alerts can be readily heard when the divers are upwind. Not so much when down wind. Modern outboards are certainly not loud so didn't affect my hearing of dive alerts often. Larger diesel powered boats may be a different story

Yep. As with most things in life, blanket statements are often wrong. There's usually many variables that have to be considered. 4 strokes at idle are barely audible. Crews not paying attention, laughing it up and/or playing music is a sure way not to hear a diver signaling. We don't allow music when divers are down. Small SMB's aren't effective from a good distance in the reflection of sunlight and/or in rougher surface conditions. An 8 foot SMB is a good choice when offshore.

I can tell you one thing. Yelling is almost always futile from any intermediate distance. So don't bother. A whistle can't be heard from a 1/4 mile, even up wind, personal anecdote. A DA is awfully loud, but requires compressed gas. So I carry both. The DA and a wind storm whistle as a backup.

Here's a poorly written test on different signaling devices. It's poor because it doesn't provide all of the results in a clean description or graph.

Dive Training: Do Surface Signaling Devices Work?

 

[Dan]

I have small flashlight, mirror, wistle, Dive Alert air horn, 6' DSMB in my BCD, but in the end, all these visual & audio safety gears are useless if you are lost at sea, in the middle of no where, no boat in the horizon, miles away from land, in remote place with little boat traffic, without beacon distress signal with GPS, like this accident. Until now, we still haven't heard anything about Carlos.

The 5 Japanese divers that lost at sea in Bali, Indonesia in 2014 & found alive 5 days later is because they were able to get on to a remote island & collecting enough rain water to drink from trash plastic bottles littering on the rocky beach.

If the island is Malpelo, just forget about surviving. You can't even get on to the island, unless you are Peter Morse & being found on the next day. The guards raised the rope ladder, unless they need to use it or being told that a visitor is coming. This still doesn't make any sense to me. Are they afraid of being attack by the Chinese shark finners or pirates?

 

[Ken Kurtis]

John, we were trying to lose you on purpose....

Veitch tried to ditch me too John, back in 2003 in Tahiti. Claimed he couldn't see my safety sausage due to the setting sun behind me and glare on the water, and claimed he couldn't hear my Dive Alert because the breeze was blowing from the tender towards me and knocked the sound down. Although he did eventually direct the tender driver (who Veitch claimed spoke minimal English) to come to where I was and they eventually picked me up, I think there were other factors in play including that he realized I was diving with all of the tip money for the trip in my BC pocket. MUCH more effective than any other emergency device.

(For the record to the uninitiated: The above story, while true as I really did drift for 35 minutes in Rangiroa before they spotted me - is tongue-in-cheek. Veitch is a good friend and needs to be teased every now and then. But they really couldn't see my safety sausage due to glare off the water and they really didn't hear my Dive Alert even though the tender was 100 yards or so from where I was. And the underlying reasons for losing the group which resulted in the drift was totally user error on my part.)

 

[Mike Veitch]

And the underlying reasons for losing the group which resulted in the drift was totally user error on my part.)

Damn photographers not paying attention...